Schrock is a commentator on Kansas Public Radio (see commentaries) and has also spoken in university ceremonies, on television, in documentaries, and in debates against animal rightists. Schrock has also testified in open forum before the Kansas State Board of Education and the Kansas Board of Regents.

The below presentations are backed up with video images on flash memory or 2x2 Carousel slides. Variations and customized presentations can be arranged.

“The Defense of Dissection and Reality-based Labs and Fieldwork”

high school
in-service teachers
college/seminar

Woody Allen once said that “reality may be overrated, but it is still the only place to get a good steak.” It is also the only place to learn science, an enterprise anchored in interactions with real world phenomena. Examples are provided to prove that real experiences are critical for establishing meaning, providing lab technique, developing skills of observation, responding with true multisensory interaction, providing test truthfulness, and gaining the student’s attention by posing real consequences. Variations in organism development provide lessons in variation; perfect anatomy is rare. While only some students will become doctors, all will become patients. Recent discoveries in the role of emotions in memory reinforce the value of genuine hands-on experiences and confirm veteran teachers’ wisdom that simulations are a poor substitute for the real world.

“Inquiry and the Use of Questions in Biology Teaching”

in-service teachers

Science is not only a body of knowledge but also a process that relies on the posing of new questions in a manner than can provide productive research. While the educationist fad of teaching a “scientific method” or properties of “classification, measurement....” have been unproductive, the use of high level questioning in class discussion and testing, in an attempt to promote better questioning by students, holds promise for increasing some students’ critical thinking and the potential for producing more young scientists. A conventional lecture on prions is contrasted with a lesson consisting of only questioning; a modification of Bloom’s Taxonomy helps understand high level questioning but does not in itself ensure usage. See: “Teaching Creative Thinking in Biology Through Questioning” in April 2002 Shengwuxue Jiaoxue [“Biology Teaching”] 27: 6–8 (in Chinese).

“Kansas Evolution Debates and the Establishment Clause”

in-service teachers
general audiences
college/seminar

Uncivil scientists, inaccurate press coverage, and a nationwide stereotype of Kansas have contributed to an inaccurate appraisal of the Kansas evolution debates. In truth, Kansas biology teachers have the lowest rates of creationist belief of any state surveyed. And over 20 other states have implemented textbook stickers or policies that are considerably more egregious than the sporadic Kansas standards, where great press attention is give to when macroevolution is pulled out, and almost no coverage given to when it is restored.

“Education Reform in the People’s Republic of China”

in-service teachers
general audiences
college/seminar

The “gao kao” is the high school leaving exam that determines the future of each Chinese student. It likewise drives the secondary system, controlling the curriculum and providing total assessment of the student, the teacher, the school, the textbooks, the curriculum. However, after 2000 years of testing, China realizes that test preparation is not getting them Nobel Prizes. The whirlwind economic reforms of the last 15 years have been accompanied by the privatization of senior high school and college, with the country switching from free schooling to full tuition at these levels. The result has been an amazing improvement in facilities and teacher’s pay for half of the country. But access for children to quality education remains a problem for the “countryside.” The PRC has tried many strategies to bolster education in the countryside and is currently sponsoring the greatest university expansion in world history. Having brought 400 million people out of poverty in the last two decades, China understands that education is the key to bringing the rest of its people out of poverty.

“Problems with Internet Use in Biology Education”

in-service teachers
general audiences
college/seminar

As use of libraries declines and some public schools brag they have abandoned printed books for electronic formats, a wide range of solid research as well as practical experience reveal that the Internet is no substitute for libraries and printed material. The three main problems are: 1)slower reading speed and lower comprehension of on-screen material, 2)impermanence and lack of archiving of websites, often called “linkrot,” and 3)the lack of quality and classification. A fourth problem, plagiarism, is noted below and can be superficially appended to the list of internet problems.

“Plagiarism”

high school
in-service teachers
general audiences
college/seminar

While this form of cheating has been around a long time, the advent of the internet and the ease of cut-and-paste functions have made plagiarism a major problem in classrooms. The clear distinctions between legitimate usage and plagiarism have also been blurred by cultural shifts in attitudes of the younger generation toward music downloading and copyright. However, the need to provide intellectual credit is only remotely associated with copyright. Correct citation methods, as well as detailed cases make clear the work of the teacher in maintaining student integrity. The educational methods of recitation and memorization traditionally used in Indian, China, etc. also promote copying in a way that is not readily understood by Western instructors or by these students operating in a new Western system that asks them to put ideas in their own words on a regular basis. Cooperative learning and group grading of outside work may also confuse foreign students, where aid to classmates outside of class is not usually graded. The problem of plagiarism also extends to university faculty in both the U.S. and China, where academic pressures often promote self-plagiarism.

“Yucca and the Yucca Moth”

high school
general audiences
college/seminar

The original co-evolution was worked out by pioneer entomologist C. V. Riley in Missouri and Kansas. The yucca moth is totally dependent upon the yucca plant; females lay eggs in the flower base and moth larvae feed on the developing seeds. The yucca plant is dependent on the moth as its sole pollinator. But Riley never asked a question that had to await the development of population ecology: what prevents the female yucca moth from laying more eggs and destroying the complete seed production...what prevents a “cheater”? The answer is a story of gambling and evolution.

"What Can a Biology Teacher Say About Gender Identity”

high school
in-service teachers
general audiences
college/seminar

More people have some form of ambiguous gender identity than have Down Syndrome or cystic fibrosis combined. Every biology teacher will have students affected by gender ambiguity and cases of reassignment and transsexuality are becoming more common in high schools. The work of the late Dr. John Money is summarized, illustrating all of the developmental problems that can occur. Gender is determined by a combination of factors including XY-XX chromosomes, anatomy, social assignment, and self-image. This is compounded by hormonal effects on the brain before and after puberty that are only now being investigated.

PRESENTATIONS

2006

“What Can a Biology Teacher Say About Gender Identity” KATS-Kamp, April 22

“Limitations of Simulations: Objectives Met Only With Genuine Labwork, With a Focus on Animal Dissection” at Annual ACUBE Meeting, Truman State Univ., Kirksville, October 9, 2003

2002

“Weavers, Webs, and Wolves: Spiders of Kansas” guest lecture at Botanica: The Wichita Gardens on August 14

2002

“The Science and Art of Communication” invited lecture at the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators Conference 2002 at the University of Kansas, August 6, 2002

2002

“Evolution, Education, and Museums–Lessons from Kansas 1999 & 2001” at the Annual Meeting of the National Science Collections Alliance [formerly the Association of Systematics Collections] at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History on June 9, 2002

2002

“Entomology and Systematics in the State Science Education Standards” Annual Meeting of Kansas (Central States) Entomological Society, University of Missouri at Columbia, April 2002

“What Can a Biology Teacher Say About Sex Role Development and Homosexuality?” AND “Entropy Does Not Prevent Evolution, and Answers to Other Intellectual Arguments Against Evolution.” KATS, April 23, 1988